What is Shamanism?
A shaman, or guide/teacher/healer, mediates relationships between daily life & the spiritual world acting as a "hollow bone" through which the healing power of spiritual helpers can affect positive change in another's life.
Shamanism healing is the oldest healing tradition in the world combining shamanism and healing. For more information, articles and videos about shamanism healing, please visit All Things Healing online today!

In traditional wisdom and knowledge, life is a continuum that does not end at the moment of death. One of the most important traditional tasks of the seer, shaman, medicine man or woman is to assist people who are either dying or the spirits of those who have died to make the transition into great domain of consciousness...

Editor's Note from Peter Clark: Hank Wesselman recounts his first meeting with Hawaiian shaman Hale Makua, the wisdom he learned that day, and the relevancy of that wisdom to the current state of our world. In the metaphor he uses, we each have a bowl filled with varying amounts of light. Unfortunately, the men who predominantly rule this planet have very little light left in their bowls. We are all challenged to bring more light into our bowls and into our lives. See a related article here.

As of late, I've been very moved by the idea of the Undefended Heart and the role it plays in creating peace around me. Can I be that seemingly vulnerable? How can I not, when so much is riding on that state of being? This is sticky territory for me as I've spent most of my life in and out of the defended heart...

Editor's Note: I hope you will try this journey to your SAnode. Feeling strong in your heart will assist in any time of crisis and will expand your joy and compassion.

The idea that childhood experiences come to bear on who we are as adults has now been accepted as common knowledge. One of the therapies that attempts, in a very explicit and direct manner, to achieve mental and spiritual health by addressing and healing childhood experiences is Inner Child work. This work suggests that the human psyche has child-like aspects and that these aspects or parts can be accessed and communicated with to facilitate healing...

Editor's Note from Sue O'Callahan: Arvick Baghramian's article explores the opportunity of bridging inner child work and shamanic journeying. Arvick provides insight on how directly interacting with the inner child can restore our connection to the wisdom, power and grace that comes from reintegrating this core aspect of ourselves.

Editor's Note from Peter Clark: Shapeshifting is a classic shamanic experience or state or practice. It can happen on many levels, though of course we are always most intrigued by the physical shapeshift. John Perkins has studied and written extensively about shapeshifting, and he has practiced it in amazing and deep ways. In essence, he has gone through an incredible personal shapeshift - a transformation from the inside out - in his career and life - moving from a shady economic terrorist (supported by both corporations and governments) to an incredible teacher and shaman of the art of shapeshifting.

Two years ago, I knew very little about Siberia or Tuva, a small republic in southern Siberia, or at least my knowing was not in my waking consciousness at the time. I knew from journey work that something was calling me to Asia - where, I could not pinpoint. When guided through a visualization to recall my ancestry, I saw my original spirit form travel to the great Mountains and Steppes. I am a woman of mixed race - Chinese, Filipino, Puerto Rican, Corsican and Portuguese, so this came as no surprise that I would be taken back to Asia the land of my father. The place was familiar to me - the cold winters, the sweet warm summers, the wide plains, the rivers, animals and way of life. Life was hard, but joyous.

The ways of spirit are mysterious. Couple that with my tendency to be kind of dense and you’ve got yourself a recipe for utter bewilderment. Such was the case when the spirits came knocking on my door about 12 years ago. At the time, not only was I oblivious to the ‘call,’ but I didn’t even know I had answered. Instead, I just wrote the whole thing off as a very strange experience.

“Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by its breathtaking moments.” Michael Vance

In shamanism, the belief that there is no death is a concept grounded in the belief of the soul existing in a never-ending process of regeneration...

Editor's Note from Peter Clark: Shamans and those who practice shamanism have always worked with both the living and the dead, helping to convey wholeness and healing to the souls of all. Whether the healing is bringing peace and empowerment to one who is dying, resolving open issues and wounds, or helping the spirit of one who has passed get to the place or state where the most positive non-physical experience can occur, shamans help make this incredible transition even more valuable and transcendent. Extraction, soul retrieval, depossession, and shamanic counseling/teaching can help the living before death, and psychopomp can help the dead after their body dies. Both of these can also help the loved ones who remain in the physical after the transition…

Have you ever stared at the sky when it was scattered with clouds, searching for an answer to an important question? Or perhaps you’ve sought counsel in Tarot cards, the Chinese I Ching or the Celtic Runes. These are forms of oracular guidance and problem-solving known as divination...

Editor's Note from Peter Clark: Divination is a cornerstone of shamanic practice. The root word of divination is "divine" - this practice is about seeking the perspective of the Divine. In general, shamanic divination is not about seeking the one true answer - it is not fortune telling, but rather an illumination of many possible paths. There may be a feeling of stronger probability for one of the paths, and if you are a hunter who can only be in one place, you'll probably pick that option. The important part here is that shamanic divination encourages empowered decision making. Perspectives are revealed, along with supporting information, allowing the one receiving the divination to walk with greater awareness on their chosen path.

I tried to explain to the psychiatrists that I WAS sick, however, but just not in the way they were imagining. I had a creative, psychological illness, which is to say that my seeming madness was an expression of my creative self, alchemically transforming an underlying perturbance in the field of consciousness so as to heal itself...

Editor's Note: A true pioneer in the field of spiritual emergence, Levy describes the correlation between being traumatized, abused, and wounded, and having a shamanic initiation/spiritual awakening. See Part 1.

In 1981 I spontaneously went into such an ecstatic state that I was hospitalized by what I call the “anti-bliss patrol.” The authorities had become alerted because I was simply unable to restrain my enthusiasm at the “good news” that was beginning to reveal itself to me about the nature of reality...

Editor's Note:A true pioneer in the field of spiritual emergence, Levy describes the correlation between being traumatized, abused, and wounded, and having a shamanic initiation/spiritual awakening.

As the ever evolving shamanism of yesterday and today unfold, the guidance and assistance gained from knowing the aspects of ourselves that we meet in the world beyond the five senses is increasingly valuable in navigating these challenging times.

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